Hat crease shape holder



Dec. 13, 1949 H. H. HANSON 2,491,309

HAT GREASE SHAPE HOLDER Filed Sept. 8, 1947 1 2 She'ets-Sheet 1 InventorHenry H. Hanson By M WWW ma,

Dec. 13, 1949 H. H. HANSON 2,

HAT GREASE SHAPE HOLDER- Filed Sept. 8, 1947 2 Sheeias-Sheet 2 InventorHenry [-1. Hanson By @Mm' WWW 1?. M518 Patented Dec. 13,, 1949 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE HAT GREASE SHAPE HOLDER Henry H. Hanson, Tyler,Tex.

" s Application September 8, 1947, Serial No. 772,788

2 Claims. (Cl. 223-443 This invention relates generally to garmentforms, and more particularly to a shape retainer for a hat comprising awire form having portions shaped to fit between the sweat band and thefront and rear portions of the crown, another portion joining thesefront and rear portions of the form and adapted to fit within thecreases in the crown of the hat, together with a second form adjustablysecurable to the first form and adapted to retain the sides of the crownwith the preferred creases therein.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a shape retainer for ahat which can be manufactured from very light wire stock, and which willhave sufficient rigidity to properly retain the hatin shape.

Another salient object of this invention is to provide a hat shaperetainer which is made in two sections, each of which is a wire form,and the second section being adjustably securable to the first sectionso that the shape of the creases, or style of creasing the hat may bechanged, this versatility being achieved in part by reason of theresilient character of the wire forms.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a, shape retainerin which one part of the retainer comprises front and rear portionsjoined by crown portions, and to make the front and rear portionsadjustable as to length, so that the height of the crown of the hatwherein this invention is used may be altered.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a shape retainerfor a hat which may be used to preserve the hat in correct shape duringlong periods of time of non-use, as well as for use as an easilyremovable shape retainer which may be retained in the hat during the usethereof, if desired.

And a last object to be specifically mentioned is to provide a hat shaperetainer which is relatively inexpensive and practicable to manufacture,extremely simple to use, and which will give generally efiicient anddurable service.

With these objects definitely in view, as well as with other objectswhich will become apparent 2 is adapted to retain in the crown portion0! the hat;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the complete shape retainer;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a hat with thisinvention applied thereto, and with the part of the inventionhereinafter referred to as the transverse member being shown as adjustedto an intermediate position and with the size of the loops and ends ofthis transverse member adjusted to minimum size, portions of the figurebeing shown in elevation, and other portions being shown in dash linesto better indicate the position of the crown portions of the form withinthe crown of thelhat;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view, taken on the line 4-4in Figure 3, portions of the hat and the shape retainer being shown inelevation, and other portions which are hidden being shown in dashlines, to'amplify the disclosure of this invention and to facilitate theillustration thereof.

Figure 5 is a view of the shape retainer with the transverse memberpositioned differently and the parts hereinafter described as crownportions bent into substantially semi-circular form, as when used tohold a "pork pie or flat ringed crown form or the like.

Similar characters of reference designate similar or identical parts andportions throughout the specification and throughout the several viewsof the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be noted that theenvironment wherewith this invention is adapted to be used includes ahat Ill having a brim l2, a crown which for purposes of thisspecification will be considered as comprised of the front portion M, arear portion l6 and a top portion I8 which is longitudinally creased sothat a portion thereof assumes a position indicated in Figure 3,together with side portions 20' which will also be creased as indicated,and a. sweat band 22. The shape retainer which comprises the subjectmatter of this invention includes a wire form having a front portion 24,a, rear portion 26 and crown portions 28 joining the front and rearportions, together with a transverse member comprised of a pair of loops30 joined by the bridge members 32 and 34.

It will be noted that the transverse member is formed from a singlelength of wire and that the ends of this wire overlap and are formedwith small loops 36, thus forming the bridge member 34 with two strandsof wire, to increase the rigidity thereof in order to better retain the3 creased portion I 8 of the crown in the hat. Each of the bridgemembers 32 and 34 is bent downwardly arcuate and the upper and outerends of the bridge members are each sharply bent as at 38 so as to gripthe crown members 28. The crown members 28 are each formed with notchbends 40 regularly spaced along an intermediate portion slightly forwardof the center of each crown portion 28. These notch bends 48 facilitatethe securement of the bent portions 38 of the transverse member to thecrown portions 28, and also serve to definitely locate the transversemember in correct relation to the crown portions.

Obviously, the transverse member is selectively engageable in thesenotch bends.

The front portion 24 and the rear portion 26.

are each similar, except thatthe front portion 24 will preferably beconsiderably smaller than the rear portion. The single strand of wireused to construction the front portion 24, rear portion 26 and the crownportions 28 will be constructed of wire stock which will retain a shapeafter being forcibly bent into that shape and the substantially verticalparts 42 are each formed with a substantially V-shaped portion 44, sothat the lengths of the vertical parts 42 may be shortened orlengthenedby closing or opening the arms of the portions 44, as by bending thewire manually. It should be carefully noted that the wings 46 in thefront portion 24 and the wings 48 in the rear portion are each bent toconform with the curvature of the base of the crown of the hat, and areadapted to fit within the sweat band 22. The angularly disposed portions59 extend from the outer ends of the wing portions 45 and are formedwith bent portions at the upper ends thereof comprising slide bearings52 associated with theupper portions of the substantially vertical parts42. It will thus be seen that adjustment of the portions 44 will beautomatically accompanied by a sliding movement of the slide bearingmembers 52 with reference to the parts 42. The portion 54 extendingbetween the slide bearings 52 prevents undue divergence of the crownmembers 28. v

The operation of this invention will be clearly understood from theforegoing description of the mechanical details thereof, taken inconnection with the above recitation ofthe objects sought to be achievedby this invention. It may be further added, however, that the preferredmethod of securing the retainer in place includes the following steps.The sweat band 22 is first turned outwardly and the front portion 24 isinserted into the hat, the length of the vertical part 42 may then beadjusted, if required. The sweat band at the front of the hat is thenturned into place and the front portion 24 clasped between the sweatband and th crown of the hat. If the front portion 14 of the crown hasnow been shaped according to the height desired, the procedure iscompleted by similarly adjusting and inserting the rear portion 26, therear portion of the sweat band 22 being, of course, snapped back intoposition to retain the device in place. The transverse member may beadjusted to different positions in the different detents 40 and the bentportions 38 of the bridge portions 32 and 34 may be placed in differentdetents on each of the crown members 28. It will be obvious that whenthe adjacent bent portions 38 on the transverse member are spaced apart,the size of the loops 30 on each side of the hat will be varied, and theshape of the crease in the sides 20 of the hat will be varied both astosize and position, by the use of this invention. Obviously, the changein the length of the vertical parts 42 will also change the generalshape of the crown. It will be clear that the shape of the loops 30 maybe slightly varied according to individual taste.

In the modified form of this invention illustrated in Figure 5, thecrown portions corresponding to portions 28 are right-angularly bent, asat 55, and the portions 58 of these crown portions are bent into morenearly semi-circular form. This shape should be considered amodification which may be conveniently accomplished by the user of thedevice, as the same wire retainer is used. The shape describedimmediately above is used to retain the shape of pork pie, fiat ringedand other similar crown shapes. The other parts of the retainer are notnecessarily altered for this last mentioned use.

Many minor variations may be made in the details of construction of thisinvention, and it is desired to limit the scope of this invention onlyin accordance with a proper interpretation of the term used in theappended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A shape retainer for a hat comprising a wire form including a frontportion, crown portions shaped to lie within the creases in the crown ofa hat, and a rear portion, said front and rear portions depending fromsaid crown portions, and a transverse member having loops at each endand a reduced central portion comprising bridge members adjustablysecured to said crown portions.

2. A shape retainer for a hat comprising a wire form including a frontportion, crown portions shaped to lie within the creases in the crown ofa hat and having oppositely disposed spaced notch bends, and a rearportion, said front and rear portions depending from said crown portion,and a transverse member having loops at each end and having a reducedcentral portion comprising bridge members selectively secured in saidnotch bends in said crown portions the loops being adjustable as to sizeby placing said bridge members in adjacent or non-adjacent pairs ofopposite notch bends. HENRY H. HANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 731,703 Naftel June 23, 19031,324,412 Rust Dec. 9, 1919 2,350,728 Conley Jun 6, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 10,782 Great Britain May '7, 1912 265,394 GreatBritain Feb. 23, 1926

